U.S. Premises Wiring Media Markets

Premises Wiring Market Poised for Recovery

After experiencing a sharp decline in the last two years, the U.S. premises wiring media market is looking up. The revival will be stimulated by an improvement in budgets for capital and operational expenditures of medium and large enterprises. The demand for premise wiring and cable products depends on new office building construction and technological upgrades of existing office building networks. Revenue from the latter is likely to be robust due to the ratification of the Category 6 cable standard in the copper segment and the uptake of bandwidth-intensive applications in the fiber optic sector.

This research examines the U.S. Premises Wiring Media Markets. It offers revenue forecasts by market segments and covers key drivers and restraints affecting market growth. It also provides strategic recommendations to overcome market challenges. This report has been segmented into two markets: premises copper cable and premises fiber optic cable.

Cost Differential and Emerging Standards Critical to Structured Cable Markets

"The key turning point for both business and consumer structured cable markets is the cost of elements such as connectors and network interface cards (NICs)," states the analyst. If the current pricing disparity between fiber and copper cables for connectivity items such as NICs declines, the scales could tip in favor of fiber cables. Future development of new bandwidth-intensive applications such as high-definition TV will also further the cause of fiber wiring, especially when bandwidth demand amplifies to a point where copper cables can no longer meet it.

However, the establishment of new copper specifications by the IEEE could curtail the demand for fiber optic cable in the market. The emerging 10 Gigabit copper standard will allow the more bandwidth-intensive applications to run over a copper cable network, thereby curtailing the migration toward fiber, especially due to the high cost of electronic components associated with fiber to the desktop. "The 10 Gigabit copper effort is important because it can potentially push the bandwidth threshold further up and takes away a key driver for fiber deployment," notes the analyst.

Newer, Higher Margin Cabling Systems to Stimulate Market

Pricing pressures have started easing and this trend is likely to persist in 2003. Strong marketing efforts for higher margin cables such as 50-micron multi-mode fiber optic cable and Cat 6 copper cable have been plugging the price decline. "In the copper market, shift toward more profitable Category 6 cabling from Cat 5, 5e, and 5e+ will be fueled by the aging installed base and the advent of new applications such as data center backup, IP videoconferencing, and security," remarks the analyst.

Apart from the savings, new cabling systems also have better performance characteristics as well as the ability to handle more intense multimedia applications. With the introduction of IP PBX as well as voice and data convergence in enterprises, customers will need better performance and more bandwidth than the bare-bones minimum that Cat 5 provides. The market, which is due for an upgrade, is gradually migrating to Cat 6 that supports both voice and data in VoIP, videoconferencing, or any other bandwidth-heavy application.

1 | FROM 10 BASE-T TO 10G BASE-T

  Market Overview

      1. Summary of Major Findings



      2. Market Definitions



      3. Challenges for Copper Cable



      4. Challenges for Fiber Optic Cable



      5. Market and Technology Trends



      6. Research Methodology

  Copper Cable Market

      1. Drivers



      2. Restraints



      3. Measurements



      4. Revenue Forecast



      5. Percent of Revenues by Category Type



      6. Percent of Revenues by New Installations Versus Replacements



      7. Revenues by Application Type



      8. Pricing Analysis



      9. Competitive Landscape



      10. Market Share Analysis

  Fiber Optic Cable Market

      1. Drivers



      2. Restraints



      3. Measurements



      4. Revenue Forecast



      5. Revenues by Cable Type (SMF Versus MMF)



      6. Percent of Revenues by New Installations Versus Replacements



      7. Revenues by Application Type



      8. Pricing Analysis



      9. Competitive Landscape



      10. Market Share Analysis

  Distribution Channel Analysis

      1. Revenues by Distribution Channel



      2. Distribution Strategy - Value Chain Analysis



      3. Typical Contractual Standards



      4. Distribution Channels - Competitive Landscape



      5. Distribution Analysis and Market Shares

  Strategic Assessment

      1. Factors Affecting Forecast



      2. Decision Process for Cable Vendors



      3. Recommendations

  Awards

      1. Introduction



      2. Leadership Award



      3. Technology Leadership Award



      4. Technology Innovation Award